If you have ever visited Clemson’s campus you know that it’s beautiful enough to be the only necessary reason, but we have so much more to offer besides a pretty face. If you are an incoming freshman and waiting until the last minute to decide where to go, a reminder of how much better we are than that other state school or just want to show your friends from other schools how ridiculously awesome Clemson is, check out this list!
5) Academics
My parents will probably yell at me that this was not the number one deciding factor in which college I chose to come to but I got pretty lucky that this was the campus I fell in love with in the first 5 minutes of being here! We are currently ranked 21st in public universities in the country and last year we broke the top 20! Also what we learn is not useless because we rank 7th in all universities (private and public) in the ratio of how much we will make in our lifetime compared to how much tuition is so you’re welcome mom and dad!
4) Extracurriculars
There is seriously no possibility that someone can come to Clemson and not find something to be involved in! Joining Greek life was one of the best decisions I have made and cannot explain how much it has impacted me since I have been a sister, but if that’s not for you (I did not think it would be for me at all so maybe it’s worth a shot for you to go out and try) there’s a few hundred other things for you to do. We genuinely have a club for people that are into anything from soil to the wild turkey federation to model railroading to religious organizations to a brew crew. Clemson is also one of the top schools for intermural and club sports (shout out to my powderpuff football team).
3) Campus
It is genuinely impossible to not find Clemson to be a beautiful place. I don’t really know of anywhere else that has a beach on a lake on campus. The amount of land that we have is unbelievable (I actually discovered a bunch of new places just last weekend) and it comes out to be about 1 acre for every one of the approximately 20,000 students here! Death Valley is obviously one of the greatest places on Earth even when it’s not Saturdays in the fall. One of my favorite places is sitting in the outdoor amphitheater in the spring when the trees are blooming and the fountains in the reflection pond are on. Bowman is of course a crowd favorite as well. There is always something to do between all the different sporting events (attend something besides football I swear they are all a great time; I have been to almost everything at least once and you usually get free stuff too) or fraternity parties or shags or movie nights in the dorms I am never bored. Downtown has a bunch of awesome bars (if you are of legal age of course) and more places to buy tshirts or anything else orange than you could ever possibly need (you wont believe it until you see it everyone from home thinks I’m exaggerating when I say I have thousands and thousands of options). Just come visit me because these pictures can’t do it justice!
2) Life in South Carolina
I’m not from down south but if I can help it I won’t be living over the Mason Dixon line ever again. I get so much pleasure out of complaining to my parents about sweating walking to class in January while they are shoveling out of the 3rd snowstorm of the week. The weather is unbelievable. We get just enough cold to break out all the cute sweaters but not enough for me to completely lose my very important tan. You haven’t lived until you have eaten real Southern BBQ or fried chicken. It is not a myth that the boys are gentlemen. They literally hold doors open for you from the opposite end of a hallway and they dress beautifully just to go to class. I never thought I would experience riding in the back of a pick up truck with 10 other people or actually managing to drive one. We have a gun range on campus located next to the experimental forest and not far from the farm or where I rode a fake mechanical bull one night by the rodeo arena. My friends from home thought I was kidding when I said I was waking up at 6 in the morning to get dressed up to go to a horse race (Carolina Cup is a must) or spending all last weekend in the mountains of Tennessee at a fraternity mountain weekend. I have had so many experiences that I never would have been able to have if I had not branched out and come down to the sometimes culture shock that I love of South Carolina.
1) Clemson Atmosphere
We have pride in everything down here (yes that includes half the people I have met having Rebel flags hanging in their rooms) but more importantly we could not possibly have more school spirit. It’s not just on game days (which are easily some of the best memories of my life cheering on the Tigers in our perfect orange gameday dresses) but everyday when you can’t look 5 feet without seeing an orange shirt and the way the whole school comes together to support everything that needs to be done. You are not human if you can tell me you don’t get chills standing in Death Valley while Tiger Rag plays as our boys run down the hill on a Saturday afternoon. When I decided to come to Clemson 4 years ago I never would have imagined I would spend this New Years Eve in Miami at the College Football Playoffs and then getting to watch the team (sadly not in Arizona) in the National Championship. We are ranked the best college town again this year and there is really no question about it. On a 5 minute walk to class I usually see about 10 people that I know and it always amazes me that I can go to a school with twice as many students as the number of people in my entire home town and see so many people to say hi to every day. I could never deal with going to a city school; this piece of southern country is the perfect place to be.